The present invention relates to a circuit to be used with a transducer to generate a well defined direct current signal in response to the transducer output and said circuit as described in particular as it is used with a device to measure extraordinary torque and which generates signals to control and/or monitor the torque generating means in response thereto.
In many technical applications shafts are employed to rotate and transmit power from one place to another. For instance, in bolting parts of an automobile together, the bolts must be sufficiently "tight" so that they will not vibrate loose when the automobile is in operation on the road. This requirement means that a sufficient amount of torque must be applied to a bolt to turn it beyond a simple bottoming out point to become a "tight" bolt. On the other hand the driving must not apply so much torque beyond the bottoming out position that the bolt head gets sheared or the bolt threads get stripped. While it has very often been the practice to provide a clutch on the shaft or to use a soft pin through the shaft being rotated, such arrangements require severe limitations of the applied power. The clutch must be spring-loaded in some fashion; and when the torque exceeds the permissible value, the clutch disengages. Such arrangements are not very exacting nor are they quickly responsive. The soft pin technique of course requires that the sheared off pin be driven from the shaft and replaced upon the occasion that the shaft has experienced an excessive amount of torque and the pin has sheared.